


That Woman

by hathycol



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: F/F, F/M, Mirror Universe, The Great Livejournal Import of 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-27
Updated: 2017-04-27
Packaged: 2018-10-24 14:57:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10744020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hathycol/pseuds/hathycol
Summary: "You looked, Kira, even when you were fighting and eating and keeping warm." Set betweenThe Emperor's New CloakandChimera.Written for a prompt:2953. Seeing/hearing about her Mirror universe counterpart's sexual tendencies forces Kira to acknowledge parts of herself she never really had time to think about during the Occupation and has tried to avoid since then.





	That Woman

**Author's Note:**

> Written in 2010. Forgive my younger self. Uploaded as part of the process of shutting down my LJ.

“Stop it, Quark, I don't believe you!” laughed Ezri, sounding scandalised. “The Colonel would never do anything like that!”

“The Colonel, maybe,” Quark said darkly. “Look, she's got a dark side to her, and I've seen it. She was all over you! Well, not you.” He paused. “Sort of you, anyway.”

Kira knew, just by the way Ezri's incredulous laughter sounded, that this was about _her_. The other hint, of course, was the way that Quark took up pouring drinks with unusual enthusiasm. Ezri had the good grace to look slightly embarrassed.

“Enjoy your trip over to the mirror universe, Quark?” Kira said archly, sitting down at the bar. “You know General Martok is still talking about ritually killing you and Rom.”

“I had to save my Nagus, you know that. What'll it be?”

–

 _She_ \- the Intendant - was a cause of perpetual shame and embarrassment to Kira, a reflection of a Bajor with no Prophets, no sense, a Bajor that embraced Cardassia rather than fighting to the end. She had nothing to do with this Kira Nerys, or so Kira tried to explain.

“It's not actually an evil trait, Kira,” Ezri said, not unreasonably. “It's more or less normal in joined Trills, apart from anything else.”

Kira had eventually managed to drag Ezri into a quiet corner of Quark's, although she had a feeling that the Ferengi was probably listening in anyway.

“I know it's not evil, but that woman _is_ ,” Kira said, irritably. “I just wanted to tell you that I'm not like that. Towards you. Obviously.”

Ezri shrugged. “That's fine. I mean, Worf liked Jadzia better, you liked Jadzia better, I'm used to it by now.”

The station span around a little too quickly, and Kira was sure she heard a glass being dropped in the direction of the bar.

“We... Jadzia... nothing happened!”

Ezri giggled. “You think I don't know that?” She grew slightly more serious. “It could have happened, maybe. If you'd wanted it to.”

“No, Ezri, Jadzia was...” Kira paused, searching for the words. “A friend. Nothing more.”

“Look, as far as I can tell the Kira Nerys over there-”

“Call her the Intendant! She has nothing to do with me!”

“-the Intendant, then, is not a very nice person. Neither is the Ezri over there. Why are you so worried about her?”

“Because she is everything – everything – that Bajor could have been!”

Ezri looked serious for a moment. “Everything over there is what this universe could have been, that's what an alternate universe is. It reflects you, but it's not you. You don't flirt like her, you don't plot like her, and the last time I looked you don't run around trying to run the Alpha Quadrant. That's the part that matters.”

“Yes, but...” Kira waved her hands around a moment, feeling flustered. “I could have been her, so easily. When we met... you know the Bajor over there are subjected by the Terrans, right? The Federation, or what it could have been. She was a reaction to occupation. I'm a reaction for occupation, and I don't go around enslaving people, or kissing women.” She looked pensive for a moment. “I rejected that part of myself, and she embraced it.”

“So...” Ezri was treading carefully now, tracing a finger around the edge of her glass. “You associate liking women with violence, the Resistance?”

Silence.

“Who was she, Kira?”

Kira sighed. “There wasn't anyone,” she muttered. “I didn't have time, during the Resistance.”

“You were a teenager during the Resistance, Kira. You must have at least looked, surely?”

“There wasn't time!” Kira lashed out, suddenly. “We had had to fight, and eat, and keep warm, and I didn't have time to even look. Look at me and Shakaar.”

“Kira, I can accept that you didn't look at the leader of the Resistance cell like that, but to not look at all?” Ezri softened her voice. “Kira, I've been nine different people, had nine people's worth of lovers and sex and crushes, and I've raised sons and daughters. You looked, Kira, even when you were fighting and eating and keeping warm. Maybe the Intendent just embraced the chance to look once too often.”

“Is that a professional opinion, _Counsellor_?” Kira's voice was heavy with sarcasm.

“No, as it happens. Professionally, I probably would have pointed out that technically Odo has no gender anyway.”

Another glass broke in the distance, and Kira tried not to look around at the bar. She hoped Morn wasn't getting a blow-by-blow account of this conversation. “Ezri, Odo and I have never needed to have that conversation. He's happy as he is, and I'm happy as he is.”

“You've still not told me her name, Kira.”

Kira debated standing up, marching out; going to see Odo, laughing about the conversation, doing her duties tomorrow. She sighed. “Yolan Marja,” she said quietly. “Her name was Yolan Marja, and she died when I was seventeen and I don't try to think about her, Ezri, because she is a part of the past and I am not that person any more, Ezri, and dragging Odo into this still doesn't make me that person.”

“I never said it did, Kira,” Ezri said, softly. “Just... you don't need to hide it away, that part of yourself. Yolan Marja is seperate to who you were back then.”

Kira stared into her drink. Ezri leant over, and very gently touched her hand. “Talk to Odo, Kira.”

“I. Er. Maybe,” Kira mumbled, shaking her head. “Actually, Ezri, I have to go.”

“Think about it, Kira,” Ezri’s smile was genuine, and her voice was caring, for a very brief moment Kira thought of Jadzia and what the Intendent would have made of this conversation. Then she shook her head, stood up, and went to find Odo instead.


End file.
